Popura Taneshima
ぽぷら |japanese name= Poplar Taneshima |alias="The Chiclet-Sized Chief" |race= Japanese |gender= Female |age= 17 |height= 140 cm (S1& S2) 141 cm (S3) |weight= 40 kg |birthday= July 14th (Cancer) |eyes= Sienna |hair= Mahogany |blood type=O |base of works=Wagnaria Restaurant |occupation= Chief (Former waitress), High school student |previous occupation= |partner= |previous partner= |status=Alive |relatives= |equipment= |manga debut= Volume 1 |anime debut= Episode 1 |japanese voice= Kana Asumi, Mai Kadowaki (drama CD) |english voice= |image gallery= yes |species = Human}} “''I’m in high school! I’m 17!”'' Popura "Poplar" Taneshima is a petite, 17 year old, high school student who works at Wagnaria as a waitress. She is one of the main female characters in the story, Working!! Appearance Taneshima is a young girl with an innocent appearance that makes people misunderstand her and think she is younger. She has long, fluffy, reddish brown hair that is tied in a ponytail and often messed up by Satou. Even though her height is shorter than the average, she appears to be well endowed compared to most females. Personality She has a bubbly personality, but is constantly frustrated when people think she's in middle or elementary school. She always wants everyone to get along. She's also somewhat oblivious, completely unaware of Satou's feelings for Yachiyo, and why he messes with her hair. However, she manages to recognize Yachiyo's feelings for Satou, even before Yachiyo does. She is really worried about her height and measures herself almost everyday, though as of the series finale she has finally grown taller. Background Relationships Family: Co-workers: Souta Takanashi: Taneshima highly admires Takanashi, She is also unable to properly call him by his surname, saying "Katanashi" rather than "Takanashi", even when corrected. She adores Kotori (Souta's alter-ego) as an ideal goal. She is quite friendly with Takanashi, often attempting to get him and Inami together, and feeling left out when he doesn't pet her for long periods. However, she is often frustrated by his 'small' comments. Taneshima believes Kotori to be the perfect girl, and often asked Takanashi to cross-dress for her, which he always refuses. Popura's adoration of Kotori is to the extent that her co-workers ask her whether she is attracted to women, but she denies it. However, after meeting Takanashi's family and discovering that they're all tall and have impressive figures, she dropped her admiration of Takanashi's girl-form and asked permission to admire his sisters, considering his family blessed by the gods. Jun Satou: Satou is a close friend of Taneshima's, and he often helps her with things she can't do. However, Satou is in love with Yachiyo, so whenever he sees Yachiyo spending time with Kyouko, he becomes angry, and in turn, bullies Taneshima. Often by teasing her about her height, and messing with her "fluffy" hair by putting it in different hairstyles or just ruffling it. Kyouko Shirafuji: Kyouko is very protective of Taneshima, and has found it routine to protect her from bullies in the restaurant. Because she is the manager, Kyouko is allowed to use violence against the bullies, which usually causes them to never come back, keeping Taneshima safe. Yachiyo Todoroki: Yachiyo, like Kyouko, often defends Taneshima when someone insults her height. This is normally Satou who she has to protect Taneshima against. Mahiru Inami: Taneshima and Inami are very close friends, and often talk to each other to help Inami get over her androphobia. Taneshima also highly involves herself in Inami's love for Takanashi. She tries to push them together in any way that she can, and scolds Takanashi when he makes Inami feel bad. In episode 12, Taneshima made Takanashi promise to go out on a date with Inami as payment for making Taneshima feel bad. Souma Hiroomi: Taneshima and Souma are good friends, but Taneshima is sometimes scared of him because he knows her dark secret, and uses it to get her to do his work for him. Aoi Yamada: Because Taneshima can not see through Yamada's lies, she thinks that Yamada is a sweet and kind girl with a sad past. Also, because Taneshima is older than Yamada, she took this chance and made Yamada think of her as her "onee-san" (older sister) so she wouldn't be looked down upon by Yamada. However, Yamada already looked down on her and even patted her head. Taneshima was too oblivious to notice this. Others: Takanashi family: Popura looks up at Souta’s mother and the Takanashi sisters because they are all tall, which is something that Popura aspires to be one day. Popura especially admires Souta's mother, Shizuka Takanashi, because she used to be short like Popura, but Souta's mother used her own will power to become tall when she was pursuing her husband. Trivia *Taneshima's father is a public servant, and her mother is a house wife. *Taneshima goes to the same high school as Takanashi and is a year older than him. *Taneshima wears fake glasses when she's studying to make herself look older and more serious. *Taneshima's secret is that she actually wears elevator shoes all the time to make herself seem taller. Souma uses this secret against her in order to get her to do all his work. *Taneshima's first name, Popura, is ironic because her parents named her that in hopes that she would grow as tall as a poplar tree. Unfortunately for her, she ended up being very short. *When Satou hears that Popura is quitting, he puts his frustration out on Maya. But to him, it's not the same as teasing Popura. *Popura was originally going to be the protagonist, but the focus was switched to Souta. *Popura's parents are shorter than her. *In the last episode of the series, Popura becomes chief of the part time employees of Wagnaria when Yachiyo steps down to find a new job. *Since Taneshima's father is a public servant, her father might be in the same work place in the anime "Servant x Service" an anime made also by A-1 Pictures. Lines (Quotes) * Calling me small, you're so mean! * I'm not an elementary student! Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Working!! Characters